[Birmingham CC]:
Our client pleaded guilty to extortion. Although no monies were ever recovered, in subsequent proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), the prosecution claimed that our client lived ‘a criminal lifestyle’, had ‘benefitted’ to the tune of £1.4m and had ‘available assets’ in the same amount. Having obtained forensic evidence on our client’s behalf we successfully argued that the ‘benefit’ figure was £11,000.
UK criminals based in Switzerland conspired with criminals in England to kidnap targets with a view to using torture to extorting substantial quantities of money.
A Chechen gang was involved in the extortion and blackmail in UK.